Semi-Annual US Healthcare Industry HIPAA Survey Asks: Will Security of Patient Data Be Preserved?

DALLAS (February 16, 2005) – Despite the April 20, 2005, deadline for compliance with the Security Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), only 30 percent of payers and 18 percent of healthcare providers who responded to this semi-annual survey indicate that they are compliant with these regulations. Results of the Winter 2005 survey, co-sponsored by Phoenix Health Systems and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), were released at the 2005 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Dallas, TX. The release of this survey marks the fifth year of tracking and reporting by these two organizations on the status of HIPAA compliance within the healthcare industry.  

“Given the imminence of the Security Rule compliance deadline, these low levels of required patient data security protection are surprising and worrisome. If healthcare organizations do not quickly deploy and maintain comprehensive electronic security measures in particular, the ever-increasing use of HIPAA standard electronic transitions threatens to turn into patient privacy and security breaches waiting to happen,” said D’Arcy Guerin Gue, executive vice president of Phoenix Health Systems.

This survey focused only on healthcare provider and payer organizations with questions requesting feedback to determine the respondents’ compliance status with specific HIPAA Security, Transactions and Code Sets (TCS), and Privacy requirements. The survey responses offer “mixed results” for this Winter 2005 report.

The reported “roadblocks to compliance” with HIPAA, according to survey results, found “achieving successful integration of new systems, policies, and procedures across the enterprise,” was the primary impediment in the Winter 2005 survey and the previous survey released in Summer 2004. The next three issues cited for compliance delays were:

• interpretation of HIPAA regulations
• budget constraints
• time constraints

Provider compliance with the HIPAA Security requirements has not changed in six months with results both in Summer 2004 and Winter 2005 showing 18 percent of responding providers having met the HIPAA Security requirements. On the other hand, 30 percent of payer respondents, versus 13 percent in the Summer 2004 results, are currently compliant with the HIPAA Security Regulations.

"With the deadline for compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule only weeks away, these numbers are cause for concern,” said Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN, BC, CPHIMS, and HIMSS director of professional services. “The continuing lack of compliance may be compromising the overall HIPAA objectives and jeopardizing the ability to maintain privacy of protected health information. In order to be ready in time, providers and payers should have completed their risk assessment and be well on their way towards implementing the necessary safeguards."

View the results of the entire survey.

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